God casts love into every place

Lectionary 15 – 13 July 2014 (Year A)

Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

+ INJ +

Grace and peace be with you, from God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Driving around the highways and byways near modern-day Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem, last February, I was struck by the same thing over and over: in the areas where the ground is more fertile, there is agriculture everywhere. Filling in every available space next to roadways, between buildings, and terraced on the sides of hills may be found rows and rows of olive trees or grapevines or almond trees.

Translated to our world here in North Texas, if you can, imagine fruit-producing trees planted in the green spaces between the frontage roads and main lanes of I-20, where, in the springtime, the bluebonnets grow, sometimes even right up to the very side of the road. Maybe a better comparison would be the way the pecan trees are planted up and down Carrier Parkway, right here in Grand Prairie.

Today’s agricultural parable from Jesus comes to us as he is in the middle of his earthly ministry of teaching and healing. He’s beginning to meet some resistance, by this point – that frustrating lack of understanding that seems to surround him in the crowds who follow him – the crowds who want miracles and get them. But they also get these teachings from Jesus called “parables” – teachings that are couched in the images of their everyday lives, such as the image of a Sower going out to scatter some seed.

The Sower scatters the seed with abandon in today’s parable, filling every available space. The seed is cast, not perfectly in little rows to be carefully harvested later. The seed is thrown out, out, out – into the thorns, the rocks, and onto the path – some of it finding its way to the good soil, too. Every piece of ground receives a seed from the Sower’s hand.

In his explanation of the parable, Jesus tells us that the seed represents the “word of the kingdom” – that is, the word of the kingdom of God – the word of God – the good news of God’s love. This word of love is cast out into the world to make all things new. The word sometimes falls on ears that do not hear it – or it falls into faint hearts that fall away when the going gets tough. Sometimes the word gets swept away by the many cares and distractions of the world.

And yet, some of the word finds its way to open and receptive hearts, and, once there, it begins to grow, filling every available space. That is exactly the beauty of this parable: that – no matter what the soil type, the seed is still sown. The Sower walks the land, casting the seed, not with precision, but with abundance.

We may look around this world and see many rocks and thorns – or maybe, in our case, fire ant mounds – for the world certainly has its share of difficulties. These difficulties reach into our homes and our schools and our workplaces – they cram into every news cycle and cover the screens of our computers and smart phones. And they try to fill every available space with fear and hatred.

But the Parable of the Sower teaches us that, rather than fear and hatred, it is the word of the kingdom of God – it is these little seeds of love that God throws out, out, out – into the thorns and rocks and fire ant piles. Some of those seeds find their way to good soil, too - but where I truly find hope in this story is not in the seeds that find the good soil.

Where I truly find hope in this story is that God is willing to cast his love into every place – not only into certain places – not only into the places that are beautiful or rich or already filled to the brim. God casts his love into every corner – between every rock, and amidst the painful thorns.

When we are baptized, the grace of God fills the waters of baptism so that the love of God is poured over us. It is this grace and this love that we are all called to share with the world over and over and over again, so that, rather than fear or hatred, it is the love of God that fills every available space.

We may think our world isn’t very open – and there are areas of the world where that is true. We may think our world is actually hostile to receiving the word of the kingdom of God – and there are areas where that is true, too. But I believe that we are still called to sow seeds of the kingdom of God – to throw the seeds of love out, out, out – with what might be considered a lack of precision.

I’m not sure we are called to be precise – I am sure we are called to be loving.

Let us pray:

Lord, let our hearts be good soil. Grow in us the seeds of your kingdom: your grace and love for all. But more than that, let us be the sowers of your perfect love that casts out all fear. In the name of Jesus, who lived and died and rose again. Amen.

+ SDG +